Category: Bookish Activities

From New York Times bestselling author Kristen Proby comes a sexy, new standalone contemporary romance in her Fusion Series, THE BEAUTY OF US, out now! Grab your copy today and get to know Trevor and Riley!

About THE BEAUTY OF US:

New York Times bestselling author Kristen Proby delivers another sizzling novel in her delectable and sexy Fusion series.

Riley Gibson is over the moon at the prospect of having her restaurant, Seduction, on the Best Bites TV network. This could be the big break she’s been waiting for. But the idea of having an in-house show on a regular basis is a whole other matter. Their lives would be turned upside down, and convincing Mia, her best friend and head chef of Seduction, that having cameras in her kitchen every day is a good idea is daunting. Still, Riley knows it’s an opportunity she can’t afford to pass on. And when she meets Trevor Cooper, the show’s executive producer, she’s stunned by their intense chemistry.

Trevor’s sole intention is to persuade Riley to allow Best Bites TV to do a show on her restaurant. But when he walks into Riley’s office, he stops dead in his tracks. The professional, aloof woman on the phone is incredibly beautiful and funny. But can he convince her that he’s interested in Riley for himself? Or is he using the undeniable pull between them to persuade her to agree to his offer?

Thesis, that’s how the friendship and partnership of the people behind Chapter Scents started. Both 20-year olds, graduates of BS Biology and avid readers – Shiella Fierry Jagto and Lissandra Uy have been friends for just over a year. Just a year? But as Shiella told to me, being partners with their thesis helped them a lot in gauging how well they work as a team. Here they are now, venturing into their own book themed candle business. “My friend Liss decided to join me because she saw it as an opportunity for us to see each other and still be friends even after our graduation”, Shiella added. Well, that is a clever and certain way of never losing a connection with someone. Let’s get to know more about their duo and Chapter Scents through Shiella, shall we?

What inspired you to create your own line of book themed candles?

I was following an account in Instagram, The Melting Library, selling handmade scented soy candles. There were only a few selections of scents then but I wanted all those candles because most of them were inspired by my favorite characters. But the shipment fee from New York to the Philippines was expensive. I even tried to use my classmate’s US address so it would be cheaper but I didn’t have a Paypal or a credit card. So I decided to make my own candles. I wasn’t planning on selling candles but I noticed that most available candles were inspired by famous book series, movies, and TV series. I thought it would be great to sell candles that are inspired by under hyped books or book characters. I am currently working on book characters.

How did you come up with the name of your shop?

It was all my friend Liss’ idea. She had six names prepared on her list. We initially chose Scented Pages, then we went to Wandering Lights, but we ended up with Chapter Scents. The first two names sounded like a book or a song, and chapter scented was more simple.

How many are you behind Chapter Scents and how did you divide the tasks among yourselves? How long did it took you to be able to establish your business?

There are only two of us. My friend, Liss, is the capitalist. While I am the in charge with the production. She also helps me with some of the task in making the candles. We started doing trials last May, but we only perfected our formula this June.

Sweet tea, corn bread, and soup beans—everyday fare for eight-year-old Alix French, the precocious darling of a respected southern family. But nothing was ordinary about the day she met ten-year-old Nick Anderson, a boy from the wrong side of town. Armed with only a tin of bee balm and steely determination, Alix treats the raw evidence of a recent beating that mars his back, an act that changes both of their lives forever.

Through childhood disasters and teenage woes they cling together as friendship turns to love. The future looks rosy until the fateful night when Frank Anderson, Nick’s abusive father, is shot to death in his filthy trailer.

Suddenly, Nick is gone—leaving Alix alone, confused and pregnant. For the next fifteen years she wrestles with the pain of Nick’s abandonment, a bad marriage, her family and friends. But finally, she’s starting to get her life back together. Her divorce is almost final, her business is booming, and she’s content if not happy—until the day she looks up and sees Nick standing across the counter. He’s back…and he’s not alone.

Once again Alix is plunged into turmoil and pain as Nick tries to win her love, something she resists with all her strength. Only one thing might break the protective wall she’s built around her emotions—the truth about Frank Anderson’s death. But when that truth comes out and those walls crumble, neither Alix nor Nick is prepared for the emotional explosion that could destroy as well as heal.

Katherine Allred truly has a powerful way of writing that can surely and easily evoke the emotions from within her readers.

The Sweet Gum Tree focuses on Alix French’s life. At eight years old, she met Nick Anderson, son of Frank Anderson – a person who has a marred reputation in their small town because of his filthy/repulsive ways of living. Alix made it her life mission to save Nick Anderson from everything, even from the wrath of his father. Alix befriends him and alongside with her grandfather, Judge, they welcomed Nick into the French family and offered him to house the vacant room in their barn.

As time passed by, Alix’s relationship with Nick blossomed. From just two people acknowledging each other’s presence with a nod it turned to Nick being Alix’s protector. Innocent touches turned into something more. Their relationship got deeper and deeper until they ended up having a secret relationship. Nick’s insecurities of being his father’s son and the existence of another person, Lindsey (a girl that Nick feels like protecting because of an unexplainable circumstance at that time) were the factors that hindered them from being fully and publicly together.

Not tagged. I was going through my WordPress feed when I stumbled across the blog post of Ann @ Ann’s Reading Corner about The Ultimate Book tag. Curious and so I checked the entire post. When I reached the end of it, I saw some book tag related posts from her blog and one of them was The Cookie Book Tag. It seemed fun and interesting and so I decided to do it!

RULES

Be sure to link back your post to the person who tagged you (which is not applicable in my case, since I tagged myself lol) and be sure to link it back to Nicole @ Sorry, I’m Booked who personally curated this cute book tag.

Pick a book that corresponds to the cookie’s theme.

Tag 1-3 people.

But most especially, have fun!

THE COOKIES

Chocolate Chip: A Classic Book That You Love or Really Enjoyed (interpret classic how you want, it can be a classic written 100 years ago or 20 years ago)

Thin Mints: A Fandom That You Really Want to ‘Join’ AND/OR a Hyped-Up Book You Want To Read (your source(s) of a book being hyped can be from anywhere)

Shortbread: An Author You Can’t Get Enough Of

Samoas/ Caramel DeLites: An Emotional Rollercoaster (this cookie was hard … so any book that made you feel more than one emotion, strongly. The choice of emotions is up to you)

Oreos: A Book Whose Cover Was Better Than The Story OR Vice Versa, Where The Story Was Better Than Its Cover

Tagalongs/ Peanut Butter Patties: A Book That Wasn’t What You Expected (good, bad, or just different, interpret how you wish)

I fell in love with this book ever since we were tasked to do a play for it back in my last year in primary school. I forgot if we were really required to read the book in full but I know that I made an effort to do so because the synopsis piqued my interest. Even bought my own copy of it ’cause I was so into it. Wild ride of events with crazy characters (Helena, Demetrius, Hermia, Lysander, Oberon, Titania, Puck and more) awaits you. But aside from the entanglements that happened, one thing that I could not forget the most about this book is the Fairies’ Lullaby.

I just have to include Little Women by Louisa May Alcott in this category too. This book was actually one of the first non-kiddie books that I’ve ever read. My grandmother own a copy of it (I remember that it’s book cover is in color yellow with ladies gathering around) and I saw it in one of her desks. I picked it up and read it. It was later on that I found out that there was a movie adaptation for it which I also love. I love Beth and I’m still sad about what happened to her. 😦

A Hyped-Up Book You Want To Read

The Illuminae Files Series (Illuminae and Gemina) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. I noticed that there’s so much hype, love towards this series and I’ve just been hearing nothing but praises about it from my fellow readers. Even bloggers. Basing it from how the books were presented, I can feel it and I know that it’s such a bad-ass series. I hope I can come out of my Young Adult – SciFi – Fantasy reading funk and be able to read this.

WWW Wednesday is a bookish weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words and was formerly hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.

It is open for anyone to participate, even without a blog you can comment on Sam’s post with your own answers. It is a great way to share what you’ve been reading! All you have to do is answer three questions and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.

THE THREE Ws ARE:

Penelope Featherington has secretly adored her best friend’s brother for… well, it feels like forever. After half a lifetime of watching Colin Bridgerton from afar, she thinks she knows everything about him, until she stumbles across his deepest secret… and fears she doesn’t know him at all.

Colin Bridgerton is tired of being thought nothing but an empty-headed charmer, tired of everyone’s preoccupation with the notorious gossip columnist Lady Whistledown, who can’t seem to publish an edition without mentioning him in the first paragraph.

But when Colin returns to London from a trip aboard, he discovers nothing in his life is quite the same, especially Penelope Featherington, the girl haunting his dreams!

And when he discovers that Penelope has secrets of her own, this elusive bachelor must decide… is she his biggest threat, or his promise of a happy ending?

Thoughts: I’m currently rereading Romancing Mister Bridgerton, my all-time favorite book from the Bridgerton series of Julia Quinn. She’s my go-to author when it comes to historical romance and have been that way since I was a high-school student. To date, I couldn’t remember the times I’ve reread this book (and her other books) and I could do it over and over again. There’s something about Penelope and Colin’s story that always gets me and my emotions.